Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/71

Rh in South Africa, it is not surprising to learn from a report just made to the Colonial Office that Monkey-skins are scarcer than formerly on the Gold Coast, the increasing warfare which is carried on against these unfortunate animals having resulted in a total extermination of the species in the less distant provinces. In 1894 no fewer than 168,405 skins were exported, valued at £41,001, whereas last year the number fell to 67,660.

to the 'Temps' correspondent at Antananarivo, a special fine net made entirely of Spiders' webs is being manufactured in the professional school at Antananarivo. The process is a very simple one. The thread of several dozen Spiders is wound on winders, the quantity produced by each Spider ranging from fifteen to forty yards. The covering of the web is removed by repeated washing, and the web made into a thread of eight strands. When the thread is spun it is easily woven into a gauze, which is very fine but very strong. It is to be used for an experimental covering of a navigable balloon by M. Renard, the head of the French military balloon school at Chalais, near Paris, who has been engaged for many years in experimenting in aerial navigation. It is believed that the difference in the weight of an ordinary covering and the Spiders' web-net will make a great improvement.—Dalziel.

Swordfish was brought to the market at Taiping recently. It was 30 ft. long, and its flesh and bones weighed 900 catties, or 1,200 lb., fat 230 catties, entrails 400, and the sword 30 catties. Total weight, 2,070 lb.—Penang Gazette.

Stevens's well-known Sale Rooms, on the 6th December last, there was sold the collection of stuffed birds formed by the late Mr. Richard Ashby, of Egham. This collection was interesting as containing many birds that were acquired at the Henry Doubleday sale. There was also sold at the same time a skeleton of the Moa, at the price of forty-eight guineas, which was really made up of "the bones of one species," and had been set up by Capt. F.W. Hutton from the Enfield deposit, who wrote: "After rejecting bones of young birds and others too imperfect for measurement, I had 1,031 leg-bones left." The Enfield deposit was described by Mr. H.O. Forbes in 'Nature,' March, 1892. Since then other collections have been sold in mournful sequence, such as the Lepidoptera formed by the late Rev. A. Matthews, of Gumley.

of the monographs devoted to the "North American Fauna," and published by the United States Department of Agriculture, has reached